Spavin lameness and livery owner responsibility

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Sam3

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Hello, can anyone please tell me if after a spavin has 'fused' and is 'causing no pain' should the horse still appear lame and stiff?

I have a livery whos horse is on a bute aday and still looks very lame. I have broached the subject with her and she says that he has 'fused spavins' and is therefore in no pain but appears lame due to the bone fusing and causeing stiff movement. He has however recieved no vetinary treatment for it and she is going purely on the opinion of her daughter.

I was under the impression that once the bone has fused the horse may not be able to jump ect, but should appear sound. This horse is 25yo and only a light hack but he appears very un comfortable and i think he should be retired but as a livery owner all i can really do is give advise? opinions please:confused:
 
I have a spavin horse, his spavins give him the odd day of discomfort where he takes the odd lame step leaving the stable or when I first get on but it disappears after he has been walked or warmed up under saddle.

He had his hocks medicated at RVC and a course of adequan. He gets worked daily paying particular attention to boggy or hard ground conditions, is shod with lateral extensions and is turned out for 16 hours a day.

He is also on Cortaflex.

Correct management (including regular exercise) plays a huge role in keeping my horse sound.

If you are that concerned suggest your livery get's her vet out to see the horse and ask if you can be present.
 
I used to have a horse with bone spavin and he always showed up 2/10ths lame, rising upto 5/10ths after a flexion test. The vet advised i could still ride him and he didnt have to be buted up, we just used to play around in the paddock, do the odd local riding school shows, hacking etc. The vet had said he wasnt in pain it was just how he now moved since it had fused.
As arthiritis (i cant be bothered to check the spelling but you know what i mean) set in, the vets said i could still ride him but to give him bute a couple of days beforehand - i didnt want to do this as i didnt believe in drugging him up just so i could have a ride so he was retired and he was a much loved pet for some 6/7 years until he sadly passed away due to old age.
a couple of times when i was riding my boy when he was 2/10th a few people spotted it and pointed it out to me ('ooo - he looks a bit lame?') but they were fine once i explained about it, plus they all knew me and know i wouldnt have just carried on had he not seen a vet.
just before retirement i was only hacking my boy but he had 6 months without being ridden whilst i was in the USA, upon my return i hacked him out 3 times and he just didnt seem right so the decision to retire was made. As we had set off on our hacks he was fine, but after maybe 15 min he would start to drag his spavin leg slightly (not noticable to those i was hacking with but from ontop, it was very noticable), maybe you could try and express concerns that he may start to struggle once hes out on a hack and then they have the issue that they have to get a horse that ois struggling back to the yard. I know that was my issue as i knew i was 15 minutes walk away from the yard which i know isnt far - but when you have a horse you know is uncomfortable...

I am also a YO and i think if you have concerns you need to really say something here and insist maybe that they get a vet if they wish to ride this horse on your yard? But there is something niggling me here - where are they getting the bute from if they havent had the vet for it?? The rules changed quite a few years ago now and if a horse is even on long term bute, vets cannot dispense it without having seen the horse within the last 6 months...
 
She is stiff throghout all excercise though worse somedays than others. She drags both back feet along the road and makes a shoe on tarmac scuffing sound with each stride, she struggles to trot (kind of jogs but wont xtend in to working trot and when asked to, breaks in to canter).

The bute is provided by the vet who looked at her 2years ago and diagnosed the start of age related arthritis and now only sees her for jabs, never done a follow up lamness exam.

Have advised vetinary attention but am told its 'pointless' as will be expencive and 'they already know what the problem is'
 
I am a yard owner and all you can do in such situations is advise. If the horse has not had xrays then the owner will not know if the hocks have fused. Sounds like they are just saying they have rather than having proof that they have. If the only problem is bone spaving in the lower hock, then fusion usually means that the horse is pain free. However, in reality, very few hocks actually fuse and become pain free. Most remain in need of bute or steroid injections to keep the horse comfortable. In your position I would probably stay out of it, other than to advise that the horse looks uncomfortable. There is not a lot more you can do if the owner does not want to treat the problem. I do not see it as a massive welfare issue as many horses have hock arthritis to a greater or lesser degree. It is debatable whether treating it is actually that beneficial TBH.
 
yes think youre right, it is hard to accept that youre horse has an incurable lameness and think some owners would rather bury their head than face the truth, espeacially when that potentially means retirement:(
 
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